Demetriapaced the floor nervously, her heeled boots making soft tappingsounds on the paved floor of the office. Haldit sat in his thrown,drumming his fingers impatiently on the wooden desk.

WhenGefish had returned with the news that Adrastea had left the cabinHaldit immediately sent Demetria to bring a message to Berglund.Adrastea never left the mountains unless she had a very good reasonand there was only one that Haldit could think of.

"Areyou sure they were coming down this way?" he asked with afrustrated tone.

Demetriawhipped around with a steely glare and frowned, obviously upset byHaldit's lack of faith in her judgement.

"WhenAdrastea and that...that boy, Dagon, left the camp they went down theEast road. I'm sure of it."

"Thereare two branches leading to Rubin Soth from that road. The oneleading here, and the second choice...Which I am positive Adrasteawould have chosen," Haldit answered.

Demetriarolled her eyes and continued to pace saying, "I you knewanything at all you'd know that the other path leads to the NymphPool. No humans dare go that way."

"Inan argument between Adrastea and Dagon, who do you think would win?"

"Fromwhat Berglund told me about that boy I'm not actually sure...Yes,Adrastea is a stubborn brat, but who are we to say that Dagon is notthe same way?"

Haldithuffed a little and leaned back on the soft bearskin, stroking hischin in thought. He would bet half his royal treasury that Adrasteatook the other path, but Demetria was right. They knew nothing aboutDagon and his ways. Humans stayed clear of the Nymph Pool at allcosts but of course, not all humans knew about it. Severalpossibilities floated around in Haldit's head that were all equallypossible.

Suddenlya knock came from the outer room and Demetria immediately rushed out,leaving Haldit alone.

Gefishwas standing by the railing, hunched over like the decrepit gnome hewas with his faded out yellow cap in hand.

"Gefish!Get over here!" Demetria demanded standing by the closed door.

Thewalls were completely sound proof so that no one could listen onHaldit's counsels, but this time it worked in Demetria's favor.

Thegnome quickly shuffled over to her and bowed his head quickly, nevermaking eye contact.

"Well?Did you find them?" Demetria asked impatiently.

"Y-yesm-my lady. They t-took the trail t-to the n-nymph pool."

Demetriagrowled to herself and zapped over to the railing looking down at thebusy streets bellow.

"Saddlemy horse and an extra one for you. We'll leave in about an hour,"she told Gefish quickly, walking swiftly out the door and down thestone steps of the palace.

"W-whereare w-we g-going?"

"RubinSoth. Now get going! I'll meet you outside my chambers,"Demetria called, pushing through a few Cievo citizens standing in herpath.

Gefishsighed and looked up at the trees, wondering how he ever got intothis mess in the first place. Hobbling down the steps he slowly madehis way to the stables where Albano - one of the Cievo guards - wasoff duty. He always helped in the stables on his break.

"Whatare you doing here?" Albano asked Gefish curiously, watching ashe struggled with the saddle.

Albanorecognized Demetria's sleek black morgan and his curiosity was piquedeven more.

"IsDemetria leaving?"

Gefishdid not answer but simply continued to try and push the saddle overthe tall horse, failing miserably.

"Herelet me help," Albano said, walking over and quickly throwing thesaddle over the horses back.

"Youtighten the girth and I'll put the rest of the tack on."

Gefishdid as requested and quickly pulled the saddle girth tight, makingsure that the straps on the saddle bags were secure.

"Willyou be leaving too?" Albano asked, already moving towards theShetland pony in another stall.

Gefishnodded and followed Albano, tightening the girth as before andstuffing a cloak in the saddle bag.

"Nowtell me, are you heading to Rubin Soth?" Albano questioned,leaning against the wall.

Gefishnodded once more, not making eye contact, and walked out of thestable towards the extended part of the palace. Albano shrugged andwent back to enjoying his break. No point in trying to getmore out of that gnome, he thought.

Slowlymaking his way up the steps Gefish barely made it to Demetria'schamber door before it flew open. The tall Nymph walked outelegantly, her gold hair pinned up under a deep purple veil. Thedress she wore was the same flowing cut of her usual black one butmatched the color of her veil. Gefish was not surprised at how darkthe costume still was and wondered if Demetria had ever worn lightcolored clothes before.

"Areyou ready?" she asked impatiently, not even waiting for ananswer before flashing down the steps and then to the stable.

Gefishran as fast as he could - which was not very fast - and made it tothe stable just as Demetria mounted her horse.

"Hurryup, we don't have much time," she hissed.

Gefishbowed his head and shuffled over to the Shetland, struggling to mountbut managing with the help of a stool.

"Nowcome on!" Demetria shouted, digging her heels into the Morgan'ssides and galloping out the door.

Theyrode at full pace for the whole day, making it to Rubin Soth justafter dark. Demetria was a regular attendant at the 'Heron Inn' - andit was the only hotel in town - so it was no surprise when the talllady came walking through the door. However what was a surprise wasthe fact that she wore a dark purple gown, instead of her regularblack.

Demetriaquickly snatched the key out of the bar tenders outstretched hand andflashed up the steps, leaving Gefish to watch for Adrastea andDagon.

"Wouldyou like anything Gefish?" Jim, the bartender, asked.

Gefishshook his head and stared at the door, waiting for it to swing open,revealing the second highest cause for his nightmares. AlthoughAdrastea was a lot more likely to have pity then Haldit, even ifGefish did not know it.

"WE'REHERE AREN'T WE?" a voice shouted from outside and the door swungopen.

Adrasteawalked in, dressed in her regular leather attire. Gefishsubconsciously swallowed a lump in his throat as he remembered thescene at the cabin. Those antlers, those knifes, those eyes...theywere deadly.

"IFYOU WOULD HAVE JUST STAYED AT THE POND THEN MAYBE OUR HORSES WOULDHAVE BEEN ABLE TO CARRY US ALL THE WAY HERE!" Dagon yelled back,swiftly walking over to the counter and asking for a cup of coffee.

Gefishquickly slipped up the stairs before Adrastea saw him and immediatelytold Demetria.

"What'syour problem anyway?" Dagon asked, a bit more composed.

"What'syours?"

Dagonrolled his eyes and started sipping from his coffee, ignoring thequestion all together.

"Allwe have to do is find Aileen and Cephalus' men, then we can leave,"Adrastea muttered, more to herself.

Lookingaround the dining room she noticed a few heavy set men that seemed tobe the type Cephalus would hire, but one could never be sure. Theirbest bet was to find Aileen and get her to tell the necessary beingsabout the trip back. If she was not in the hotel they would have aterrible time trying to find her. Fairies were known for shrinkingand staying in abandoned rabbit holes so as not to attractattention.

"Butwhere is Aileen?" Dagon asked, voicing the question in boththeir heads.

"Wellshe could be hiding out in a bunny burrow if she wanted to stayhidden. Or she guessed Cephalus might need to contact her so she camehere."

"Onlyone way to find out...Bartender!" Dagon called across thecounter.

Jimturned around and smiled cheerfully at the both of them with hisbushy mustache. Dagon smiled back but Adrastea simply looked away andscowled. She did not like people.

"Yessir?" Jim asked with a booming voice.

"Didyou happen to see a fairy come in here recently?"

"Idon't know, we get lots of fairies here at this time of year. Couldyou be a bit more specific?"

"She'sa bit smaller and wears red with a silver crown. To be more preciseshe's actually a royal."

"Ahyes, I remember her. Delightful young lady. She's renting a roomupstairs. Left about half an hour ago, but she ought to be back atany time. Didn't check out ya see."

"Alright,thank you very much," Dagon nodded, walking away from thecounter towards Adrastea who had slowly made her way towards thedoor.

"Whereare you going?" he asked, tapping her on the shoulder.

Adrasteaspun around and sighed a bit, taking her hand off of the door handle.

"Iwas going to get a breath of fresh air. There are too many people inhere."

Dagonlifted an eyebrow and looked around the sparsely populated diningroom.

"Thereare five people here...Five! And that's counting the bartender!"

Adrasteashook her head before Dagon had even finished talking and opened thedoor.

"That'sfive people too many," she mumbled.

Dagonsighed and followed her out into the night. Once again it was warmwith a very slight breeze and he wondered if Summer would ever end.Autumn was his favorite season when all the trees changed theircolor. He loved to roll in the leaves with Diomedes until the sunwent down and they would go inside eat dinner of turkey and pumpkinpie. But that was a long time ago. Pumpkin pie was considered adelicacy after the raids started happening.

"Heylook!" Adrastea suddenly spoke up, pointing at a thin trail ofglowing sparks heading towards them at a fast pace.

"Thatought to be Aileen," Dagon reasoned.

Asthey suspected Aileen quickly grew to her full size before landing infront of them, brushing herself off and straightening her crown.

"DidCephalus send you two?" she immediately asked, jumping toconclusions as she so often did.

Dagonnodded and Adrastea quickly went on to explain, not wanting to stayany longer than she had to.

"Heneeds his men to go back to the campsite. We had a little encounterand now a rogue party need to be watched."

"Gotit. Why don't you come inside and rest for a little while? I'll tellCephalus's men."

"Uh,no thanks. I'm leaving," Adrastea answered hurriedly.

"ActuallyI think it would be better to stay here in town until the rest come.It would save us a trip," Dagon told her.

Adrasteaquickly spun around and glared at Dagon, this time with an expressionthat was more desperate than stubborn.

"No,no, no. No way I'm staying here!"

"Look,"Dagon sighed, not wanting to argue.

"Doyou always have to be a complete recluse?...Alright, alright. We cancamp in the trees outside of town," he finished before Adrasteacould answer the question.

"Wedon't both have to. If you want to stay in town you can."

Dagonlooked up in surprise at her unusually normal tone. It did not soundlike she was trying to get rid of him but more as if she did not wanthim to do anything he did not want to.

"Ohno. I'm going with you. Cephalus told me to stay with you and thosewoods are still full of bandits."

"Aww,look at you two all getting along!" Aileen smiled cheerfully andboth Dagon and Adrastea answered with a blunt, "We're leavingnow."

Theyquickly mounted their horses and rode down the road at a steady pace,past the rows of various buildings and off into the woods. It did nottake long for them to find a good camping area and Adrastea unpackedher things while Dagon stacked wood just in case they would need afire later on.

Adrasteasat down and pulled out a sheet of paper, scribbling down a shortmessage and folding it up.

"What'sthat?" Dagon asked.

"Something."

Dagonsighed and leaned back saying, "Fine, I'll mind my ownbusiness."

Adrastea actually chuckleda little to herself before getting up and answering, "Its amessage for a friend of mine. She lives in Rubin Soth."

"Ohso you do have friends?"

"Well...Sortof. I haven't actually seen her in a while. Last I heard shewas...well she was told to...never mind."

Dagonwatched curiously as Adrastea tucked the letter in her saddle bag,wondering when she was going to actually answer one of his questionswith a straightforward remark. He doubted that it was ever likely sogave up even trying to get something out of her. It was a hopelesscause anyway.